Triton reports attendance gains and mixed assessment results at midyear
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Summary
District leaders told the committee the first full year of a districtwide attendance plan and tracker is showing earlier interventions and modest reductions in chronic absenteeism, while midyear I-Ready data show gains in reading and math but mixed growth at the middle-school level.
District staff presented a midyear attendance update and midyear assessment results to the committee on Feb. 11.
Attendance: The director of student services reported that this is the first year the district has implemented an attendance plan and a live attendance tracker across all schools. Schools are using a 7-day letter to alert families when students have missed seven days and developing tiered interventions (attendance plans) for students at risk of chronic absenteeism. Staff described earlier family engagement and weekly review by student-support teams as contributing to improvements: Newbury Elementary had 14% of students maintaining perfect attendance through the school year to date; Pine Grove reported 98.23% on-time arrival for students; Salisbury reported that several chronically absent students improved their attendance, with absences falling by 8 to 18 days for seven students after intervention.
Assessment: The director of curriculum and assessment reviewed midyear I-Ready benchmark data for grades included in the district window (grade 1 at SES and grades 2'8 across the district). The district reported a reduction of 9 percentage points in students two or more grade levels below in reading and a 15-point increase in students at or above grade level in reading; in math there was a 10-point reduction in two-or-more-grade-level deficits and a 21-point increase in students at or above grade level. Median growth targets showed nearly half of students meeting end-of-year growth targets in reading by midyear and lower (around one-third) in math across the district; the middle school showed lower typical-growth percentages, prompting staff to target expanded MyPath/i-Ready implementation and tier 2/3 supports after February vacation.
Staff highlighted continuing areas of focus: prioritizing tier 1 instruction aligned to grade-level standards, increasing targeted interventions for students below grade level, and supporting students returning from extended illness with individualized LIFT programming. Committee members asked about supports for students returning from hospitalization and about coordination between reading and math specialists and teachers; administrators described data-driven coaching, data chats with students, and co-teaching/coaching models as the primary practices driving progress.
District staff said they will continue monitoring attendance and assessment data and share state reporting in March and at year-end.
